A big thank you to all those keyboard commandos who preach to the choir

Quite often I hear complaints about "preaching to the choir" and "keyboard commandos". Well I am not here to complain, I am here to give a big thank you to all those who have used this forum to educate us and to motivate us to bring about change.

All of the great leaders throughout history have known the value of preaching to the choir. You better believe that people like Martin Luther King and Gandhi spent a great deal of time preaching to the choir, and if they had not done so we would not be remembering them today.

We need to motivate our people, and we need to educate our people on all the relevant facts that we know.

I know that if it were not for these so-called keyboard commandos who I get my news from every day I would not have a fraction of the knowledge I do today.

Just look at all the great things that the keyboard commandos have done for us. How many of you would have known about Diebold and election fraud if it was not brought to your attention by bloggers? How many of you would have known about the Valerie Plame outing if bloggers had not been on the story months before the corporate media reported on it? How many of you would have known all the details about the way that Bush and his cronies lied us into war if the blogs had not been on the story?

Our keyboard commandos are helping us to bring this administration down, and they deserve our praise not our ridicule.

None of us are completely educated, we need people to inform us as to what is going on in the world and fortunately we have many great people around here to do that.

Your posts on DU do make a difference, in fact they make a huge difference. We have all kinds of people lurking here and many of those people are going to go home and tell their family and friends what they learned on this site. Many of them will pick up arguments that they have heard here to convince their neighbors to support the causes that are important to all of us.

Let us stop ridiculing those who preach to the choir, and instead give them praise for all the great work that they have done. Our keyboard commandos are some of the greatest allies we have and it is time we give them the recognition that they deserve.

which I believe it is, I agree with you.

I come to DU almost daily. I thought I was an informed person before DU, but boy was I wrong. And I do everything I can to stay informed!

If I have a question, I come here, and someone almost always has a link or a story to answer my question. Of course I can read and view the news, and I know that Google is my friend. But there is always someone here with many more facts at his or her fingertips. There is always someone here who helps me frame an argument in a more convincing manner.

Kephra's mission was to be the best keyboard commando possible. No one kept us better informed than him. But Kephra was giving us his gifts, so that some of us could take that knowledge on to the next level.

We still have to translate that knowledge into action. Some of us can use that knowledge to write letters and make phone calls. Some of us can work with our local and state committees to get Democrats elected, and to make sure they pass the laws we need. Some of us can run for office.

I will never put down the keyboard commandos. Kephra taught me that. But since I have the ability to do other jobs, I will step away from the keyboard with what DU and the other keyboard commandos have taught me, and put it into action.

I didn't really start reading DU until after Kephra's death, but from everything I hear about him I can be certain he was just the type of person I am writing about here.

So often I hear complaints about those who just sit on their computer and complain about the issues facing the world but don't do anything about it. The fact is though that if they are taking the time to write up a piece that explains why they are upset about the state of the world and then post it in a place where everyone can read it then they are doing something.

I believe that blogging can be one of the most effective forms of activism. If you post a good piece on DU there is a very good chance that it will be read by thousands, there is no denying that could have an impact.

Sure it is great to get people off the computer and out doing other things sometimes, but we should not pretend that those who do sit on the computer are not doing us any good because they are doing a great thing for us.

that Kephra blogged about. Not everyone can.

For quite a few years, all I could do was go to work and raise my family. There was little time for activism. Now I can do more.

When I complain here about the people who sit on their butts, I am complaining about the people who are able to get out and do more. I don't think it is wrong to question whether we are all doing as much as we can.

Also, when I question other DUers about the level of their activism, it is always because they are sniping at each other and fighting. You all know how bad it can get here. I am not trying to be holier than thou when I ask them what else they are doing. I am wondering whether or not they are aware of the political realities out in the trenches. I am wondering if they can't find anything better to do than fight.

I wish DU had been around when my kids were small. I think it would have made me a better Democrat. And the fighting here would have been a nice break from my kids' fights!

useful information...

to make informed decisons and to exchange ideas and to debate, respectfully with one another. ( I usually can't post anything without 'spellcheck' but it won't work for me today...sorry if I misspelled anything) (I'm sure I'll hear) :)

and you're missing a comma.


couldn't resist ;-)

typo I swear. :)

fluid (mostly) progressive think tank for America. We can be all over the map about any one issue, but a consensus is often distilled, framed in a way we can use it.

k&r

I see a lot of ideas that seem to come from DU in the MSM and elsewhere.

There's plenty of novel ideas to go around and imitation is the best form of flattery.

which begs the question: How many times will a thought echo in a freeper's head before it goes out the other ear.

The Moran Clan, all 13 of them, with lawn chairs, lard asses and misspelled signs, can't put a candle to DU.

After all sound echoes more in an empty space, and there is a lot of empty space in a freeper's head. That is why they keep repeating the same talking points over and over again.

It needs to move air to be heard.
:shrug: :rofl:

As for Creationist fiction...

:rofl:

Thanks for the thread.

Kicked and recommended

I was rapidly becoming an activist before I came here and in fact found this site through a "teach-in". But I have become an extremely well informed and educated activist because of this site.

While some do immeasurable service in keeping the masses informed, others are actually counter-productive.

How much praise is due someone who spends their days whining and making nasty remarks? I say none. In fact, in light of how real life conversations go, I can be sure that those who practice such nonsense at DU have absolutely nothing to do with real world progress being achieved.

Case in point: Not long ago there was a convention in my state. Out of the many counties in my Congressional District there is one who is always pissed off. They do nothing but show up every two years when it's time to elect new CD leadership and demand as many places at the table as possible. Outside of that, youwill not be seeing them contribute in any way. Well they found one of their own to buy into their tales of greatness as well as "mistreatment" at the CD level and she decided to run for chair of the CD. Nevermind that she has no idea about how anything in politics works, no, she's got a blog for gawd's sake!!! Of course the District didn't know her, she had no accomplishments to point to as a good reason to elect her and so when the inevitable happened and she got creamed at convention what did she do? She went on her blog and wrote lie after lie. Everything she could do to "cast asparagus" at her political rivals she did. Sadly I believe this practice to be more commonplace than not.

Of course here we have all kinds and I am grateful to those who post lots of info or even the small but valuable nugget of info. Hell when I first came here, as DU was just getting going, I knew very little of politics. It was thanks to those here like Keph and many others that I learned volumes. I finally joined and began posting in 2002. That is also the same year I decided to get involved in the real world.

Since then I have always gotten valuable info from here (LBN is priceless!) but I have also learned, many keyboard commandoes have no idea how it actually works. Anything beyond instant gratification is a "betrayal" or a "failure". There is no long haul, no long term thinking, just here's what I want RIGHT NOW and will do nothing but bitch on the tubes to achieve.

So I guess I am of mixed feelings on this topic. There are keyborad commandoes who I think the world of and others who I wouldn't let carry my shoes.

Julie

You are absolutely on point, a toast to the keyboard commandos and their indispensable information, thanks!:toast: :kick:

Devil’s Advocates, the Socratic questioners, and the plain ol’ “I ain’t gonna believe just ‘cause you’re sayin’ it so you gotta prove it to me” bunch?!?!?!?!

:woohoo: :applause: :woohoo: :applause: :woohoo: :applause:



All “Preachers” need a foil against which to sharpen their argument and their wit.

Theories must be tested and examined for flaws before it can be valid.

Du'ers need to remember that examination of the thought process doesn’t necessarily mean rejection of the message. 'k?